Gopher trouble? Strychnine woes? Share your input in the 2025 ASB Gopher Impact Survey 

By Nerissa McNaughton
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Across the Prairies, producers know the sight all too well: mounds of freshly turned earth dotting pastures and fields. While they may seem small, these mounds signal a much larger problem lurking beneath the surface. Richardson’s Ground Squirrels, commonly known as gophers, are causing significant and costly damage to agricultural lands, and their impact appears to be growing.  If you are a producer facing this challenge, your experience is important. Agricultural Service Boards (ASBs) has opened the 2025 ASB Gopher (RGS) Impact Survey to gather data from local residents and farmers.

You are encouraged to visit https://agriculturalserviceboards.com/2025-gopher-survey/ to take the survey.

One of the ways gophers have been managed since the early 1900s is through the use of strychnine. Although concerns over its use, as it is a neurotoxin, led to strychnine being banned in 1992, limited emergency usage was reintroduced as more effective methods to control the gopher populations had not yet been developed. As of 2024, strychnine was, once again, under a full deregistration protocol.

This, says the Government of Alberta, is unacceptable.

In an open letter posted on social media and signed by Premier Smith and Ministers Sigurdson and Schow, “Alberta’s farmers and ranchers are in crisis.” The letter notes that the federal ban was “made without consultation or solid science,” and “has left producers without viable alternatives,” leaving Albertans to face an $800+ million risk to hay and pasture.

Meanwhile, other interest groups want the ban upheld. For example, Animal Alliance of Canada, a federally incorporated non-profit organization, posted on their website: “Along with many other animal advocacy and environmental organizations across Canada, we have submitted a joint Notice of Objection to Health Canada and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency as of early May 2024. In March of 2024, Health Canada announced a ban on the use of Strychnine; this will take full effect in September 2024. Unfortunately, they decided to continue to allow the issuance and use of Compound 1080, another deadly poison. We are hoping they will reconsider this decision that continues to harm and kill many species of wildlife. (See the full statement: at http://www.animalalliance.ca/help-ban-poisons).

For many reasons, the ASBs RSG Impact Survey is vitally important. From landowners directly impacted by the rodents to residents concerned about wildlife and the health implications of pest control methods, everyone wants to have a say.

You can have that say in the survey.

“The purpose of this data collection is to provide a clear and credible summary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, with the goal of encouraging timely action to support Prairie producers facing increasingly severe pest damage,” MP John Barlow, noted in a letter earlier this summer.

This is not a formal scientific study. Instead, it is a practical tool for gathering municipal-level data directly from producers and other impacted persons. The survey asks for your best estimates on the impacts you’ve observed, and photos are also welcome. The more responses they receive, the more credible and compelling the data becomes.

Taking a few moments to share your input can contribute to a long-term solution that benefits the entire agricultural community. So, please provide your input and help shape the future of agriculture in your region.